Guest Designer Liza-

 

Clear Scraps "Dear Santa" Christmas album 6"x 6" by Liza Sivek

Today I have an acrylic Christmas album up on the Clear Scraps blog! This is my debut blog entry for Clear Scraps - or any other blog besides my own! I am so excited to be bringing this creation to you. I had a lot of fun making it.

 

First the back story – my niece, Becca, is 3 and lives on the West Coast with her parents. The rest of our family is on the East Coast. Her mom is gathering old photos so she can make a family history wall for Becca. It was this idea that inspired the theme of the album – “Dear Santa” through the generations of our family.

 

I started with the Clear Scraps Deco Acrylic Pages. I love the way the edge of the pages each have a different bracket pattern reminiscent of vintage glass ornaments. I also incorporated the Clear Scraps Clearly Accents Ornaments Embellishments and the Clear Scraps Stars Acrylic Border. For this project I used the Authentique Paper “Joyous” collection with coordinating accents.

 

Important!: When scrapbooking old family photos, be sure to scan the original and print it on photo paper for use in the album. That’s what I did here and it allowed me to have copies and also edit the photos to correct for fading or crop them without altering an original image.

 

After removing the peel-off backing from both sides of the acrylic pieces, I laid out the basics for each page. What originally attracted me to Clear Scraps acrylic albums is the hundreds of ways you can use their see-through nature! This gives an extra dimension of layering to build from! My usual style is to start with a theme and let it create itself as I go, but with acrylic I like that patterns show through so I am forced to plan ahead and outline the layouts, which is a really good mental exercise for a crafter. The details can always evolve as you go.

 

For the cover, the star border beckoned! First, I cut it for layering then sprayed it on the back with gold alcohol ink, edged with Forest Green Stayz On. (I edged all the album pages and most embellishments with Forest Green for continuity). I wanted even more sparkle so I added liquid gold glitter.

I proceeded through each page in pretty much the same way and with lots of detail so I will highlight my favorite techniques:

• On the inside cover, I used the red “Decorate” paper on the bottom half. This looks like beginner's writing paper. I used a white paint pen and stickers from the paper collection to accent it. 

 

Later I added a dimensional clear button to bring attention to the word “wishes” and on a round tree cardstock sticker. You can see this on the finished page layout. I used the acrylic buttons throughout the album this way!

 

Acrylic bubble button over the candle "flame"

• On the next page, the "Grandpa" page, I sprayed gold alcohol ink across the center of the page and then used the 6” Nordic Snowflakes Mascil over it. First, I filled in the snowflakes I wanted with the white paint pen by drawing it in then sponged the Viva Decor Silver Chrome paint pen, (my new favorite paint color) on top. I also built the layout around it so the stencil can be seen from both sides and shows through on the "Grandma" page. I used the sponge to drag Viva Décor paint pen in Light Moss Green along the mat edge of the pic of my dad (Grandpa).  Not only did it match the green in the paper exactly but it has a nice, vintage-y look. 

 

 

I squeezed a small amount of silver paint on my sponge wedge and then tapped it lightly over the snowflakes I wanted to use. The stencil was taped down to the acrylic page to avoid smudges.

Here you can see the dried snowflakes and sprayed gold ink over a white background. The Light Moss Green also edges the black and white of my Dad - when he was 1!

Here is the reverse of that same page section - you can see where the "joy" die cut and the photo mat make a partial black background. I chose to leave them black for contrast and to make some of the flakes pop on this side of the page.

• On the next page, for Aunt (featuring me!), I used Black Stayz On ink to stamp a sentiment right on the acrylic page and covered it in liquid diamond glitter. Stamping is one of my favorite techniques with the acrylic.

 

• Two of the acrylic ornaments dangle from a ribbon on this page. To get the decorated lines on the ornaments straight with the paint pens, (more Light Moss Green and gold glitter), I laid them on my ruled cutting mat and drew along the grid lines that I could see through them. Score another point for acrylic accents!

 

• The next two pages are really a page-an-a-half. I had an extra holiday family picture of my brother, mother and I that I wanted to incorporate. I used scrap chipboard covered in paper and created a pocket from a die cut from the paper collection. I punched a tag around the photo and added patterned paper and sticker numbers for the year, 19youdon'tneedtoknow. Now this lovely picture of me sticking my tongue out can be forever archived as an example of “Naughty”!

Using a stamp with Black Stayz On ink, I created a St. Nick with patterned paper. I wanted the stripes to contrast with the holly pattern and match the pocket accent.

• The second to last page has the star and bell shapes from the Clearly Accents Ornaments sets as embellishments. These I covered completely in patterned paper and used them to identify the photos of my daughters (the Cousins).

 

I added the year the photo was taken, not a birth year. They are raised above the heavily decorated page and kept simple so they stand out,

And the whole album:

Front cover with plaid and hemp twine bows on the ring binding.

First page spread - "letter to Santa" and Grandpa

Second page spread - Grandma and Aunt. The bottom half of the Aunt page was left clear and the ornaments are not attached below the ribbon so they move freely.

Dad and the half page with the tag of Grandma, Dad and Aunt

The same page spread, with the half page flipped to the left. Gives it an entirely new look! I coordinated the half page papers with the pages they would land on. This pocket also has a tag but it is waiting for a photo of Becca's mom to be added.

Becca! On the back cover. Here, as in other pages, I wanted certain word stickers to stand out so I altered the white letters with watercolor markers. I also brought several of the die cuts and photo mats above page line to give that feeling of items "stuck in" over the years.

 

This album was a joy to create and I thank Clear Scraps for

giving me the opportunity and inspiration. It is fascinating to

see the last four generations all in baby pictures, side-by-

side. I hope I inspired you today!

 

Additional supplies used were The Paper Studio 5” x 7” 

glittered card stock stack, Zip Dry adhesive, red line tape,

washi tape in red plaid, various clear stamps, various 

ribbons, hemp twine, 1” Chrome Book Rings, Uniball pen 

for journaling, various foam square adhesives, 

and various watercolor markers.

 

Have a glittering day!

 

Liza

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Comments

[Rita Barakat]

Love this totally adorable Clear Scraps Christmas album by Liza Sivek! #clear scraps

[Brenda Obregon]

Fabulous album! Mahalo for the step-by-step! It can be very challenging to do acrylics.

[Laura Dogsmom]

Not only is this cute, it is a very clever idea!

[Jamie Arthur]

That is an amazing album, the details and the work you put into it! Amazing!

[Cynthia Edwards]

This is so very precious and a album that has lots of love put into each and every page. Sharing memories is something that can be treasured for years to come and you have done such a wonderful job on each and every page.

[Carrie Elmore]

WOW! This is amazing! Love the detail!

[Beverly]

Boy you did a fantastic job! Loved all your many details and especially the cut out photo of the child's amazed face! So many things to love!